


The Swan Princess

by RelientKnox



Series: SMTO: Fairytales [1]
Category: Seduce Me (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swan Princess (1994) Fusion, Because I can, Damien is a little shit, Damien loves himself, Erik is mom, Good Lord, James is dad, James isn't here to play games, Mika is a BAMF, Mika's dad kind of sucks ngl, Multi, Sam is bad at feelings, Sam is frustrating, Sam is such a whiny boy, Sam please use your words, Ultimate Bro Matthew, but I love him, damien ain't no snitch, making up demonology, sam is so awkward, send help, true love WILL beat everyone the fuck up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-04-28 09:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14446389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RelientKnox/pseuds/RelientKnox
Summary: A Swan Princess (1994) AU for Seduce Me.Sam and Mika struggle to understand what they will and eventually do mean to each other as old foes try to ruin a Good Thing.





	1. Part I

Not all that long ago, in a place that is not all that far away, there was a kingdom. That kingdom was ruled by the kind and just ruler, King Anderson. The people loved their king and could find no fault in him. But he was growing old, and he had no heir to the throne, Yes, he had a son, but the man’s heart was hard and unyielding. His decisions were final and his pride clouded his judgement. The king loved his son, truly, but he was no leader. King Anderson would sit upon his throne and despair. As king his first and foremost love must always be his kingdom, and to leave it to his beloved yet cruel son worried him. 

But then, one day, a child was born. The king honestly did not know how his son’s wife managed it. And frankly he didn’t care to know, he had the heir he needed. When the child – his granddaughter – was presented to him, he could not help himself: He adored her instantly. Mika, for that was her name, he decided, would want for nothing and would learn to hold the world in her hands.

During her presentation to the court and the royals of other lands he had allied himself to, Anderson was approached by young King James. James was one of the rulers of a large and prominent kingdom across the seas. He had caused a rebellion against his father, an unrelenting and cruel warlord, who had eventually been banished. Taking those few loyal to him he had sworn vengeance and had left. Many viewed James to kind on the matter and Anderson silently agreed with them. He had allied himself with them and lent his armies to their cause. The many trade agreements and the subsequent friendship that had sprung up between the two men continued to hold strong.

It was one of the many things he and his son argued about.

“Congratulations King Anderson,” James said, head tilted in a respectful nod. “May your reign continue to usher in such glad tidings.”

Anderson snorted. “It’s just us James please, relax! This is a happy occasion.” James nodded, the small smile on his face belaying his youth in a way his eyes did not. They both watched as James’ brothers one after the other bestowed gifts upon Mika. 

The second eldest, Prince Erik, approached the bassinet with the young Prince Damien in his arms. Erick was only nineteen and Damien had only few years on Mika at two. They placed a small ball with a geometric pattern in bronze and copper on the table beside the bassinet, already filled with countless gifts. Erik then proceeded to gently wave Damien’s hand at Mika, the loud, pleased gurgles that burst forth from the infant staring up at them brought smiles to the faces of everyone in the room.

“The sphere is a Memory Locke.” James murmured to Anderson. “She need only think of the moment while holding it and the memory will be saved within in it to be reviewed with perfect clarity whenever she wishes.”

“How marvelous!” Anderson returned, watching the other brothers warily advance toward his granddaughter. The young Princes Sam and Matthew were five and four respectively, and Sam had a small box in his hands. Matthew stared down at the child apprehensively.

“She’s awful small. And squishy.” At that Mika began to loudly babble nonsense; Matthew jerked back. “She’s loud too!” Sam just scoffed and opened the box he was holding, pulling out a long gold chain with a small green gem pendant on it. On closer inspection, one would be able to see an “A” engraved on it. Sam dangled the necklace above the princess, a subtle smile on his face as he toyed with her. After a few moments of keep away he let her have it, her laughter ringing out.

“Sam picked that out himself.” James notes, no small amount of pride in his voice. Anderson looked back at the boy, surprise and fondness coloring his tone. “Did he now? How kind.”

As the day continued and the Princess Mika was lavished with more gifts and praise, the necklace never left her hand.

 

xxx

 

A year later King Anderson found himself in a heated debate with his council, headed by his son.

“My King, they are weak. Their laws are too lenient and they show a severe lack of forethought in many of their plans. How can we expect them to hold any treaty to its completion?”

Anderson maintained a cool front of disinterest. As if his son were an oddly interesting bug that he had recently decided that he disliked. On the inside, he was livid, and very disappointed. “I do so hope that you are holding more than just expense reports my son.”

His son's eye twitched and he sneered “I have everything I need to prove that those creatures,” He practically spat the word. “Are unworthy of us and are nothing more than a drain on our resources, I see no reason to maintain any interaction with them. Those devils–”

“– Incubi,” The king cut in, still upholding an air of neutrality and boredom. “The correct term is Incubi. I cannot have you representing our country and blatantly misstating so simple a fact as that.” 

Anderson’s son looked like he may interject, eyes like frost behind his glasses, but the king plowed on. “And the alliance I set forth with the incubi ended the embargo that had been set by Castonia. We now have trading rights in five major ports and access to the best trade routes in their lands. I’d say we have a rather large reason to maintain contact with them.”

His son had frozen, silently staring past Anderson. He looked defeated. But the king knew better, his son had a rage that ran hot like magma beneath the earth. In most situations, you could not see it beneath the surface until it erupted and destroyed everything in its path. Anderson caught the glint in his son’s eyes as he came back to himself and began shuffling his papers back into order. He knew instantly that his son had found an appropriate weapon, but what? What could he have complete and total control over, no matter the situation, that could hurt him? What – _Mika_. 

King Anderson struggled to hide his horror as his mind raced. His son was putting away the last of his reports, gathering his words with care. “I think, father, that in light of all this that life in the citadel has caused a shortness of foresight on my part. I believe that it may be for everyone’s best interest that I and my family take up residence in the chateau.”

And oh, that was clever. How else to harm a man when he and his family cannot be touched physically? “Well, if you insist my son.” King Anderson’s mind raced. How to keep them here, how to keep her here? “Of course, you must bring Mika down for the summers so that she may travel with me to Demesne to visit her fiancé.”

“Oh?” His voice was ice. The other officials were very decidedly seated, their eyes trained carefully on their notes before them. Four had already managed to sneak out.

“Yes, I have every reason to believe that in the next weeks I will receive correspondence confirming the betrothal; and further cementing our alliance with King James of Demesne with said betrothal to one of his brothers.”

The room was quiet. No one spoke, no one dared breath. Anderson continued, visibly unconcerned, “I believe we will agree that one of the younger brothers will suit her best. Erik is much too old. . .” His son had left the room. “. . . Well. . . You are all dismissed.” The council scattered. Once he was completely alone, Anderson swiftly began writing.

 

xxx

 

A few nights later James held a private meeting with his brothers. The frantic and apologetic letter written by a certain king in his hands. He looked at each of his siblings in turn, “I have come to ask something very serious of all of you. It will not be an easy thing and I am quite certain that a few years from now you will resent me for it. But I will ask all the same.” The three middle siblings looked at each other, concerned. Damien just looked around wildly from his perch on Erik’s lap, confused at all the talking when no one was moving their mouth. Didn’t this sound come from the eating part?

“This mainly concerns Sam and Matthew. Erik and I are much too old and Damien is just beginning to come into his powers.”

“What is it James?” Erik asked, idly bouncing Damien, “Come on, out with it.”

“This Letter is from King Anderson.” At that all the boys perked up. Anderson’s kindness and overwhelming generosity where the main reason they were even able to band together and defeat their father to begin with. “His son has attempted to have the council out vote him and put forth a movement to cut ties and undo all alliances with us.”

Erik’s eyes narrowed while Sam and Matthew stared up at James in shock. They were young, but they understood enough. Damien gummed on his fist, idlily wondering why the speaking noises that did not use the eating parts were so angry and sad.

“The letter continues to say that due to losing the debate his son made plans to move his immediate family away permanently. He would never see his granddaughter again.” James looks at each of his brothers in turn. “That is where we come in. In his panic, he implied that his daughter was betrothed and would be visiting her future spouse’s lands every summer once she came of traveling age. James took a breath. “To keep his granddaughter and permanently cement our alliance he named one of us.”

Erik froze. Sam stared and Matthew, though he had no idea what was going on, gasped loudly.

“Earlier I said this concerned Matthew and Sam more than it did the rest of us and that is true. Erik, you and I are far too old for her and you know it. Damien’s Gift is coming in and from what I’ve seen already I believe he will become a telepath. The training required for that involves calm, centered minds and solitude. Having a human girl around will do him no good.”

“King Anderson has been nothing but good to us and has asked for very little in return,” Erik began hesitantly. “If this is one of the ways we can repay him. . .”

“But at the cost of ourselves after everything we’ve been through?” James returned, “I’m not sure –”

“– I’ll do it!” Sam piped up, done with the look on his brother’s face. James looked pinched and tired, something Sam had only recently gotten used to not seeing. “I’ll marry some princess.” 

James looked at his brother, he looked at all of his brothers. They had been through so much and had stood by him and his decisions in every situation. In tough situations. In situations like this.

“Sam, are you sure?” James started cautiously, the five-year-old was very clever and had quite the temper. It wouldn’t be wise to seem like he was doubting him and his choices. “This is for life; this is a potential Partner. Someone who will be trusting you to take be patient and listen, trusting you to care. This is someone you must trust to do the same. For Incubi, for us, this is no small matter.”

Sam, to his credit, did not respond immediately. He was looking down at his hands, thinking hard. After a few minutes, he looked James in the eye. And in that moment James felt a mix of pride and remorse well up inside him. Sam looked to tired, to hard to be a child. James had done his best by his brothers, but in moments like these, whenever they looked like that. He felt as if he hadn’t done enough.

“I’ll do it,” Sam said, an edge of finality to his voice. “I’ll marry this princess."

 

xxx

 

When King Anderson presented the official documents betrothing Princess Mika Anderson of Bailiwick to Prince Samuel A. Lilin of Demesne to his son, proof of Anderson’s intentions to further cement ties to the Incubi as well as a signed agreement for the children to meet every summer until Mika came of age, he offered no rebuttal. He simply added his signature and retired to his rooms. It was a hollow victory.

Mika’s father continued to become more and more distant, constantly taking meals in his rooms or pointedly being on long hunting trips during gatherings. When Mika turned three, he left on an excursion into uncharted territory across the sea, he never returned. His son’s wife seemed to simultaneously wilt and blossom. A dichotomy of emotion; guilt warring with relief over the loss of her spouse.

Mika aged quickly, becoming intelligent and kind. Oblivious to King Anderson and King James waiting anxiously for her fifth birthday, and for that awaited summer when Mika and Sam would meet.

 

xxx

 

Sam was twelve and not happy. He was standing at the gates of the castle with his brothers and staring at an empty road, waiting for some Princess Something-or-Other to show up.

These final minutes were torture after seven years of James and Erik talking about her and giving him letters about her from her grandpa. She’d send things to, crudely drawn stick figures in fields that he only assumed was them, dried flowers, carefully preserved butterfly cocoons. Any shiny pebble that had caught her eye, abandoned birds’ nests. Sam had kept them all, squirreled away in a box that was hidden in his room so that his brothers wouldn’t find it. He suspected Damien knew, but Damien kind of knew everything, whether he liked it or not. But that was okay, because Damien wasn’t a snitch.

Up in the battlements trumpets sounded. Sam stiffened and Erik placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder. “It’ll be alright Aomaris,” He says under his breath as King Anderson’s carriage approached. “Have courage, and please, please watch your temper.” 

For the record, Sam would like to have it noted that he was truly going to be on his best behavior. He was going to stand up straight, not pull at the too tight, stiff collar of his doublet, and greet her appropriately. It was going correctly, he had bowed and greeted her, had waited for her soft hello and wobbly curtsy before making a perfunctory turn around to go back inside. Everything was perfect, until James had hissed at him to turn right around and kiss her hand. Ew. Gross. No. He didn’t care if James said that, as an Incubus, this first innocent step of kissing her hand would help him in understanding her energy. He wouldn’t do it, the Princess was seven, absolutely not, no checking little girls for any energy of any kind, no sir. 

Mika started to cry. Now James was Upset, which meant Bad Things if he didn’t fix it.  
He marched back over, snatched up her hand, and kissed it, grimacing all the while. Now, he didn’t know it, but this action was a tad on the rough side for a human, even more so for a little girl. Also his behavior had sorely wounded Mika’s pride. She wiped her hand on her dress and glared. She was not going to enjoy this.

Mika was _not _enjoying this.__

__Grandpa – and oh, Grandpa was going to get it for this, no number of hugs could forgive him for this lie. Grandpa had gone on and on about Prince Sam, how nice he was, how kind. Mika huffed and resolutely avoided eye contact with him. He was so rude! Was her hand that gross? One thing was for sure: She did not like him, not one bit._ _

__

__xxx_ _

__

__“I am going to live with the priestesses in the mountains.” Mika huffed to herself as she ran. “I can’t marry if I’ve sworn oaths to never do so.” At the age of twelve Mika had firmly decided that she was never going to get married, at least, not to the boy she was stuck with. Boys, were jerks. Jerks and idiots and stupid and she just wanted to say goodbye! It was late August and Mika was going home tomorrow, her Grandpa had insisted that she say her goodbyes today, before the formal one tomorrow.She slowed down to a walk. Trying to catch up to Sam and Matthew was hard on its own, but when they used their powers? Mika shook her head; birds have a better chance of learning to swim._ _

__Sam knew he was an asshole. He didn’t try to hide it and he certainly didn’t try to justify it. After seventeen years of pranking people, five of them uniquely devoted to tormenting Mika, he was well settled into his role. He had to give it to the Princess though, the girl was no quitter, she kept coming back to bother him. Sam looked out the window of the tree-house, Mika’s slowly approaching form only minutes away. He didn’t quite get why she’d come by here. The tree-house was shoddily made, he and Matthew had done it themselves. The walls were lopsided and were covered in splinters, and besides the tree there was only one precarious support beam holding it up. No one would go in it besides them and Sam was fine with that._ _

__“She’s out front!” Matthew called as he quickly pulled up the ladder. “You’d think she’d take a hint and learn to read.” He was referring to the quickly done ‘NO GIRLS’ sign on the side of the house. Sam smirked and wondered if she’d liked it._ _

__“This isn’t fair!” She yelled, frustration clear in her voice. Sam leaned up so that he could look out the window again. Her dark hair was windswept and wild, her green eyes bright with anger. If she wasn’t such an annoying duck of a girl she’d probably be somewhere near pretty._ _

__“Look doofus, I don’t care!” Sam called down, trying to sound as bored and uncaring as possible. Mika’s face darkened as she turned to walk away._ _

__Stupid boys and their stupid tree-house!” She muttered darkly, “So much for saying goodbye.” She made a sharp turn and began to walk away, angrily kicking the support beam to the tree-house as she left. With a groan, the beam gave and the house toppled right out of the tree, Mika barely had time to shield her face before she was slammed to the ground._ _

__After a few moments of cowering she realized that she wasn’t, well, crushed. Sure, she was bruised and her arm hurt but other than that she was relatively unhurt. “You alright doofus?” Sam bit out, green eyes electric in the dark._ _

__

__xxx_ _

__

__Four hours later Mika was on a horse, slowly plodding along beside her grandfather. Each shift caused by the horse’s gait jostled her bruised body. This, had not been a fun summer. Mika thought about Sam hovering over her, powerful and strong, his voice darker and rougher with the use of his Demon Magic. She shuddered and felt her face heat up. No, no, definitely not a fun summer._ _

__Sam, who had shoved Matthew onto the tree itself (Which had survived the whole affair) and had managed to get down and save Mika by taking the brunt of the weight of the debris, was mostly healed by now. As an Incubi fast approaching majority he was practically immune to most any physical harm. He halfheartedly waved at Mika’s retreating figure before turning to go inside, Matthew beside him._ _

__A hand on each of their shoulders stopped them._ _

__The brothers froze, a flash of cold going up their spines. “Where,” James began softly, “Do you two think you’re going?” Sam looked around for help but Erik was already half way to the castle, pushing Damien ahead of him, pointedly not looking back. The surrounding guard where already starting to lead their men and horses away, suddenly finding a great deal of interest in the grouping of birds on the other side of the drawbridge. Mathew gulped audibly._ _

__“I saved her!” Sam snapped, irritated at the whole situation, “I don’t even know how, but I saved her.”_ _

__James titled his head, and didn’t lessen his grip. “Go on.”_ _

__Sam huffed, “I just said that I don’t know, weren’t you listening?” Angrily he tried to shrug James’ hand off, throwing some of his demon strength behind it. The hand didn’t budge. “The house started to fall and before I can even accept that fact I’m over her, taking the weight of the fall. And looking back on it, Sam knew he was telling the truth. He hadn’t thought about it, he’d just moved, hind-brain leaping into action before he could fully take stock of the situation._ _

__James started pushing them towards the castle. “You’re starting to accept her,” HE looks down at Sam and smiles, “Don’t fight it, that won’t help. She’s becoming a part of you and you of her. When you recognized the marriage treaty you inadvertently set your body up for the potential of a mate.” At that James looked a little sad and a little lost, gazing at nothing in particular. “But never mind that,” His tone darkened. “What possessed you two to build a tree-house when neither of you have any idea of what you are doing?!”_ _

__Matthew started to cry and Sam hoped their deaths would be swift._ _

__

__xxx_ _

__

__After that their relationship changed, they were no longer so antagonistic towards each other but they were, colder. Sam had no effort to change himself and his prankster habits, he just aimed them at other people. Mika had taken on an air of indifference and, unless forced, she made no effort to speak with or interact with the Incubus, spending all her time in the library, with Damien, with Erik, or doing all these things at once. Sam swore that it didn’t bother him, four years of this and it. Did. Not. Bother. Him._ _

__“She’s such a flirt.” Sam grumbled to himself as he watched Mika, she was seated at a small table across the gardens, animatedly discussing the book in front of her with Damien. Who was also sitting, next to her, very closely. Sam scowled._ _

__“What was that?” Matthew asked, distracted by the card house he was building. Sam snorted in disgust and slammed into the chair across from Matthew, the house wobbled precariously._ _

__“I said she’s a flirt.” He nodded at Mika, and then scowled harder, she was leaning towards Damien in a manner that exposed her ankles and a bit of her calf. She touched Damien’s hand. “Indecent.”_ _

__Matthew, who had stabilized his house and added to it by this point, turned to look at the two scholars. “She looks like she’s discussing a book with her friend. Calm down, and besides, isn’t her having friends a good thing?”_ _

__Sam’s brow furrowed. “She’s my betrothed or whatever,” He tapped his fingers on the tabletop, tense. “That behavior is inappropriate.”_ _

__Matthew added another card to his structure. “Why do you even care?” Sam froze and he pointedly did not look at Mika. Matthew, oblivious to the landmine he’d stepped on, concentrated on what was more a card castle than a house. “Do you like her or something?”_ _

__“Wha?!”_ _

__“It’s just, you keep talking about her and what she’s doing or where she’s going. It’s as if you like her.”_ _

__Sam huffed and leaned back in his chair, using his foot as a brace against the table to rock himself back and forth. The card castle leaned heavily to the right. “I’d like her better if she’d lose at cards.”_ _

__The last time they had all played together Mika had swept the floor with them and had walked away with everyone’s pocket change, Matthew’s watch, an engraved doorknob, three pearl earrings, James shoes and Sam’s pride. (No one had noticed when she had slipped Damien the doorknob.)_ _

__Matthew winced at the memory. “Yeah, that hadn’t been pretty.” Sam looked over at Mika once more. She was still too close to Damien, was still touching his hand, was still holding the book. Sam didn’t dislike books and he loved his brother, but he didn’t care for either of them right now. His chair slammed to the ground and he pushed off the table so that he was standing. The card castle swayed dangerously._ _

__“I’m gonna go eat or whatever.” Sam grumbled as he shoved his chair back into place by the table, slamming it against the table. He turned and walked toward the library and not the kitchens, muttering darkly under his breath as he did it. The last hit was too much and the card castle collapsed into one giant heap of playing cards._ _

__Matthew groaned. Damien smiled._ _

__

__xxx_ _

__

__Mika scowled as she placed the last of her books into a trunk. She never understood why she was forced to pack and unpack, by the time she ever truly unpacked and felt settled in one place it was time to pack up and travel to another! She sighed as she looked over at the calendar on the wall. “Every June until September,” She murmured to herself. “I’m twenty and I have never spent the summer in my own home.”_ _

__She crossed her arms and glared at the timetable, as if it had personally wronged her. Why couldn’t Sam come here for the summer? Was there something wrong with Bailiwick that his lordship couldn’t be bothered to visit her home for once? Mika rolled her eyes and moved to her closet to pack the last of her personal mementos, she was stopped by a small chest. It was old but Mika had clearly taken good care of it, the leather was worn but clean and un-cracked, and the hinges were oiled with some regularity. Mika brushed her fingers across the top and gave it a bittersweet smile, every year she considered the chest and every year she kept it. She gently lifted the lid._ _

__Dried flowers and yellowed letters tied up by a green ribbon greeted her. Smooth rocks that were strange colors and other sorts of odds and ends. Before her first visit Sam would write her, and before she turned ten he would send her things. The green-eyed prankster a magpie for what others would consider junk, the weird and slightly abnormal. She had kept everything he’d ever sent her. She fiddled with the pendant necklace around her neck and smiled faintly, memories toying with her perception of the boy she knew now. She continued to look on, hand gently brushing the Memory Locke resting in the corner. She didn’t need it to know that it held a multitude of moments, pieces of time that stared to sift through her mind, clear as the day she got them._ _

__The time Sam taught her how to skip stones, her hands soft and pudgy from youth firmly gripped in his grimy ones. Or the time where Erik taught her to play the piano, cheerfully slamming the keys in a poor rendition of Chopsticks just so she’d smile. James letting her read his copy of The Book of Urizen, eyes committing every word to the preservation that is memory. Damien showing her where the garden swans had their nests and how their young learned to swim. And more and more moments where Sam was gentle, soft with his voice and words and so kind. . ._ _

__A knock at the door broke the moment. Mika hurriedly shoved the Memory Locke into the chest that quickly went into her trunk, covering it with the other things already inside and slamming the whole thing shut. “Mika, can I come in?” The door started to open._ _

__“No.” her voice was firm and the door stilled. “No, you cannot. I do not, want to go on the voyage next week but here I am, preparing to go. Must you insist on intruding upon my privacy to attempt at placating me with falsehoods?” Yeah, she may or may not have practiced that exact monologue in the mirror._ _

__The door began to open again but Mika was already there, preventing it from opening further. “I’m almost done packing, I’ll be ready by morning we can talk on the journey just, please, Grandpa, not now.”_ _

__The man on the other side of the door sighed. “Alright, just, try to get some rest.”_ _

__Mika smiled and listened as he shut the door and walked away. When she was sure he was gone, she leaned against the door and looked at the ceiling. It didn’t hold any answers._ _

__

__xxx_ _

__

__A few months later Sam was being corralled to the ballroom by his brothers. He snarled and griped but they were unmoved. He scowled and tried to walk faster, the collar of his doublet was to tight and it itched, on top of that, this ridiculous cape-cloak monstrosity they’d placed like a weighted hangman’s noose around his neck was ruining his gait. He felt absurd._ _

__“You look nice,” Damien piped up, smiling at Sam from the left. “Roll your shoulder back and widen your stride, it will help.”_ _

__Annoyingly so, it did help and Sam bit out a tight “Thank you,” in response. He eyed the double doors that opened into the ballroom, with James at his back he knew he wasn’t getting out of this. He gripped the door handles, “I could do better than this.” He hissed out before throwing the doors open and stomping in, cape swirling furiously behind him._ _

__“Well,” Erik said after a moment of silence. “He is quite the Drama Queen, isn’t he?”_ _

“Oh?” James returned, a small smile curving his mouth to the right. “And how do you feel about being usurped Erik?”

“OOOO!!” Matthew gasped between laughs, Damien quietly chuckling beside him.

The doors at the other side of the ballroom slammed open and Mika whirled around at the noise, her white dress twirling with her. Mika looked down at the offending garment with a frown, not that she disliked the cut or fit of it but the color, the color was the least subtle thing she had ever seen in her life. She looked up and watched Sam storm into the room. She scoffed, “He is so immature. . .” 

And then her mind promptly went blank. It stuttered and tripped over itself and frantically attempted to search for answers. When, when did the boy who antagonized her for years suddenly become the man before her? She took in his wide shoulders, when had she missed the safety and confidence in his stance? She looked into his eyes and her breath caught, and what had always been a dry riverbed with a weak stream struggling to connect had suddenly became a flood hazard. How can one look at a person all their life and then see that they’d only been looking at one piece of the puzzle? Mika felt as if she had been in a long period of darkness before being abruptly thrust into the light. Her knees felt weak.

 

xxx

 

Sam wasn’t doing much better. “Damn doofus, when did you become. . . That?” He muttered to himself as he walked closer. Sure, he’d been aware of that she wasn’t terrible to look at in comparison to other humans but on the principal of the matter he’d gone out of his way to ignore all aspects of her physical changes. She was still skinny but now her limbs weren’t gangly or awkward and her whole body seemed, soft? Dammit he didn’t know how to describe it. Her dark hair draped across her shoulders and her eyes still held the fire he’d admired when they were kids.

Gently he let his magic reach out ahead of him to feel something he’d gone against James advice to avoid: Her Sexual Energy. He was promptly hit straight on by a monsoon of untouched sexual energy, just thrumming beneath her surface. He sucked in a shaky breath, what would it take to stride over there, to curl his fingers into her hair, to drag her mouth to his? To lead her hands to his shoulders and let his other hand wander, down – he minutely shook his head and yanked his magic back from where it was practically bathing itself in all her eventualities. The slut.

Feet shuffling, heads angled so they could watch the over out of the corners of their eyes, they approached one another. Stopping a touch to close to be considered proper. “Good Morning,” Mika whispered, curtsying and very assuredly not making eye contact. Sam gave a stiff, short bow in return  
“H-hey, doofus.”

 

xxx

 

“What’s going on in there?”

“Let me see!”

“Hey! Ouch! Watch it!”

“Keep your voice down.”

“Mind the feet!”

Three incubi princes and one human king struggled for dominance over the crack in the door.

Damien hung back, blatantly and unrepentantly ease-dropping on the couple’s minds. He grinned, “Guys, I think it happened.”

 

xxx

 

Mika was blown away. She watched the man – Incubi? – She watched the Adult in front of her, sure in his manner and actions in a way he never was when they were children. Mika couldn’t understand how she’d missed it, she thought back on the gentleness he had with Damien, and the blatant respect he held for James, his camaraderie with Matthew, the way he kept Erik humble.

Mika didn’t know how she’d missed the strength of his character beneath his prickly demeanor, but it was as clear as day now. She ignored the people quietly trickling, she ignored the music that swelled up around them. She only had room for Sam, dependable, brash, kind Sam, who was before her now, hands stretched out in offering. She placed her hands in his – and they were calloused and warm, not what you’d expect of a prince, but what you’d expect of Sam. Sam who climbs trees and played Adventurer in the Gardens with his younger brothers, searching for far off lands and distant seas – and he immediately cupped them, cradling them as if her hands where glass. Her breath caught in her throat as he skimmed his thumbs across her knuckles.

“Arrange the marriage.”

Sam’s gaze never wavered from her face as he made the announcement, only turning his body to the crowd around them. He stared and stared, drinking her in, as if he’d never seen her before.

The orchestra picked up again, this time with a far more celebratory tune. Mika looks around, mildly baffled. Marriage? Yes, they have known each other since infancy, but, what else? What does Sam see in her? Mika knows why she’d pick Sam, now and any time from this point on, but why is Sam choosing her?

Across the way, Damien freezes. “Uh-oh.”

“Wait.” Her voice is quiet but firm and everyone goes silent and Sam, beautiful, stubborn Sam, turns to face her.

“Why? You’re all I’ve ever wanted, you’re beautiful!” And Sam means it. Her mind, her voice, and, yeah, her face. But what was beautiful was the way she made time for everyone and made them feel appreciated. Her and Damien’s book club, how she talked politics with Matthew and had spa days with Erik. The bi-weekly day of rest she set for an overworked James. Beautiful, she was beautiful.

“Thank you” Mika said, an edge of frustration to her voice. “But what else?”

“What else?!” Sam is baffled, he just told her everything! Why did she need more?

“Is beauty all that matters to you?” She presses, taking her hands out his.

“Sam,” James calls from the front of the crowd, “What else?”

Sam splutters and Damien drops his head into his hands. Erik pats him on the back consolingly, he can see the end as clearly as Damien can. Sam turns to Mika, what does she want to hear? Haltingly he manages, “What else is there?”

Erik lest out a loud groan of frustration and flings himself into Matthew’s arms. Matthew just looked on, arms full of Erik, confused and disappointed. James had given up, and was looking to the ceiling for guidance. Mika, face carefully blank, had already left the room.

 

xxx

 

Mika sat in the carriage, back stiff and mouth pinched in her silence. The air was tense and she used all of her will power not to fidget. She stared out the window at the inky dark of the woods and pointedly did not make eye contact with her grandfather. The man sighed, “I just don’t understand. What else did you want him to say?”

Mika turned to face him, distraught. “I need to know that he loves me, for just being me.”

King Anderson opened his mouth to placate her. To remind her that Sam was a man of action and genuinely struggled with voicing his emotions. That he used his limited emotional vocabulary in a different way than most. But in that moment the carriage lurched to a sudden stop, the driver seeing a shadowed, hulking figure blocking the road. The horses whined a high-pitched noise, ears back with fear, they refused to be calmed by the driver.

“Stay inside Mika.” Her grandfather instructs before stepping out of the safety of the carriage to confront whomever was outside, the surrounding guards on horseback moving in a slow circle around him. And though they could not see it, the figured smiled.

 

xxx

 

Back at the castle, Erik was laying into a morose Sam. “What else is there?! She asks, ‘is beauty all that matters’ and you say, ‘what else is there’??!!”

“it was dumb. I know!” Sam snaps as he falls backward onto a nearby couch, his arm coming up to cover his face.

Erik kicks his foot against the couch, jostling Sam. “You should write a book: How to Offend Women in Five Syllables or Less.”

“She just wants you to say it,” Damien pipes up from a chair to the left of the couch. “She knows why she’d marry you, she just needs you to convey legitimate feeling and reasoning for why you want her.”

Sam sits up at that. “I did tell her! Why–”

“That was poor word choice,” James cuts in. “She heard ‘beautiful’ as in her physical attributes when you were talking about ‘beautiful’ in regard to her personality, her soul. You’re going to have to watch your tongue, find a better way to tell her.” 

“How?! You know I’m no good with – with words and stuff.” The words are forced out between clenched teeth, as if the admission cause Sam more pain than he’d care to admit.

“Prove it to her!” Matthew exclaims, leaning over the couch back to peer down at Sam. “Actions speak louder than words, right? At least, for you they do, just do something to prove it to her!”

Sam abruptly sat up, narrowly missing Matthew’s head. “prove it to . . . Of course! Yeah! I’ll prove my love!” Sam stood and faced his brothers, head held high and eyes sparkling with determination, “I just have to take action! First I have to find her–”

The door bursts open and the brothers turn towards it in alarm as a rain battered, bloody man collapsed in the doorway. James is up in an instant, “That’s King Anderson’s Captain of the Guard.” He notes, alarm coloring his voice. Sam began to approach the man as he slid to the floor while taking weak, shuddering breaths. 

But Damien’s words stopped him in his tracks. “Sam!” the raw fear in his voice had ice creeping through Sam’s veins. “Sam, they were attacked, he’s the one they sent to get help! Sam, it – the monster – he – oh hells, Sam, Mika’s still out there!” Sam’s blood completely froze in his veins, world tilting dangerously for a moment. Then he was put the door at his fastest, glamour flickering dangerously.

Erik came up beside Damien, “Are you alright?” he asked softly, gently placing a hand onto Damien’s shoulder. Damien looked at him, eyes unseeing, mind still sifting through the memories of the dying man James was hurriedly ordering doctors for.

“They didn’t stand a chance. It was a slaughter, whatever that animal – that thing was, it wasn’t just there. It had a purpose, I can see the fight in his mind. Erik, this wasn’t random it was strategic, this? This had intent behind it.” Damien’s eyes jumped from brother to brother, watching as a horrible understanding bloomed across their faces. “I don’t think Sam will make it in time.”

 

xxx

 

Sam ran faster than he thought he could, hurtling through the pouring rain, dependent on his own superior eyesight and the crackling lightening overhead to guide his way. Before he knew it, he was at the site of the attack. The carriage was overturned and the horses were missing, Sam raced over to it, opening the door and hoping against hope that Mika would be there. Nothing. Frustrated, he pushed away the climbing hysteria and looked around. The trees surrounding the scene looked as if something had snapped them in half, the remaining corpses of the guards were scattered about; ruthlessly shredded, viscera slowly being washed by the rain. 

“Mika!” Sam turned around himself, hating the silence that greeted him. A flash of color has him freezing. In the dirt was the pendant he’d given Mika all those years ago, that very first meeting, and, in the middle of this, it’s the realization that she’d kept it throughout everything that had something catching in his throat. He let out a low sob and clutched it to his chest, its then that he hears the labored breathing.

Leaning against the other side of the carriage, halfway lying in a puddle was King Anderson. The King sucked in another shuddery breath and pressed his hand firmly to his side, the blood seeping through the fabric of his rain soaked shirt and through his fingers showed how well that wasn’t working. His other hand clenched the dirt beside him, as if to use the earth itself to tether him to the world.

“King Anderson!” Sam knelt in the mud and supported the kings head in his hands. “What happened? Who did this?”

The man struggled to respond, breaths short and fluttering. “Sam listen to me, listen, it came so quickly. . . a great animal. . . A monster.” The blood seemed to spread faster.

“Rest, help is coming soon, you just hold on old man, okay–” With surprising strength King Anderson pulled Sam closer.

“It’s not what it seems! It’s not what it seems!” Sam stared at the frantic man in confusion and worry, struggling to keep the fear out of his voice.

“What’s not? Where is Mika?”

“Mika?” Anderson gasped out, looking past Sam, eyes unseeing. “Mika is. . . Mika she. . . She’s gone. . .” At that the man stilled, eyes falling shut, and Sam heard the weak flutter of his heart stop. That was how his brothers found him. On his knees in the rain, staring ahead blindly, holding King Anderson’s limp body, and Mika’s necklace clenched in his hand, her name on his lips.


	2. Part II

Miles and miles away, through a wood so deep that not even the best tracker demons could find the other end, was a castle. It was old and rundown, clearly uninhabited, with a dirty moat beneath a dilapidated drawbridge that fed into a lake. The lake backing the building was inhabited by an irate and distinctly unimpressed swan. The swan’s feathers gleamed white in the night, highlighting the black feather’s around its eyes and at the crown of its head. At the water’s edge, a succubus covered in a red shroud was unsuccessfully trying to feed the swan bread crumbs. The swan hissed and flapped wildly, drenching the bread and the succubus. 

“Why you!” The wet demoness cursed bitterly before visibly reigning herself in. “If I didn’t need you as a bargaining chip _princess_. . .” the word is spat, as if the succubus was made physically ill at the idea of acknowledging Mika’s title.

And, it was, Mika. Mika – now a swan – swam back and forth in irritation. Making sure to keep a few feet away from the edge of the lake in case the demoness tried to grab her. Mika had only been a bird for about a day now but she was finding it to be horribly inconvenient. In all honesty, she would have attempted to fly away by now if it weren’t for the aura radiating from the demoness. Mika couldn’t explain it, it was as if her subconscious had been heightened. As if becoming an animal had increased her awareness. An aura of sickness and death and wrong practically poured off the cloaked figure.

“It doesn’t matter if you won’t eat as a bird,” the succubus sneered, brushing lake water from her robe. “As soon as the moonlight touches the lake. . .”

At that moment the moon rose high enough in the night sky for its light to hit the lake. The water rose as if to greet it before reaching out and wrapping around the swan, pulling her under. He water bubbled and frothed before parting slightly to reveal a soaked and coughing Mika.

The demoness practically emitted smugness. “That’s how it will work, every night. Of course, you have to be on the lake to transform back into that.” She waves her hand at Mika’s bedraggled appearance. Mika glared.

The demoness shrugged it off. “This will fix itself when your stupid little prince and his brothers finally arrive.” She laughed as confusion bloomed across Mika’s face. “I should leave it at that, let you stew in confusion and fear. . .” She looked to the side for a moment, as if she was considering it before chuckling, “I think I will take no small amount of pleasure in the look of horror and devastation that will no doubt cross you face when I tell you what will happen.” She clapped her hands together with an air of finality. “Let’s do that.” She then crooked her finger at Mika, “Come. Here.”

Mika felt a strange, sharp tugging from behind her belly button before she fell inform of the succubus. Mika looked up and gasped, she could see beneath the hood and the face was shaded but recognizable: The Fourth Wife of The Demon Lord, Aezera.

Aezera sighed and dropped the hood back, “I guess there’s no need for that any longer.” She turned and began to walk towards the dilapidated castle, pulling Mika behind her. Mika thrashed about, even though she knew it would do nothing.

“How do you have powers? You were stripped of your magic and banished when James took the throne!”

The demoness laughed and began to ascend a crumbling staircase, uncaring if Mika got bumped or scraped along the way. “Stupid human, everyone knows that powers can be. . . _borrowed_.” They enter a darkened room and Mika can only make out mounds of something along the walls and a slumped figure in a throne that seemed to be on a raised platform.

Aezera’s smile gleamed in the dark and it was the only thing Mika could see in the dark. Mika turned around frantically, desperate to keep her eyes on the circling succubus as her voice seemed to come out of multiple places across the space. 

“Raestrao is weak and a fool. Tossing us out, tossing _me_ out, was a mistake. Did he think we’d waste away? Content with being forgotten? Satisfied with being reduced to a child's nightmare? No. . .”

One of the lights came on and Mika could now see that the mounds were piles and piles of bones. Mika couldn’t tell where they were from, but there were so many skulls of different shapes and sizes and Mika is reminded of what Aezera said about borrowing magic. 

“We scraped and fought to survive, the wives and I. But they grew complacent, sedated and accepting of this new life. I knew that they wouldn’t aid me in my cause. . .”

Another light came on and Mika turned to see another mound of bones. The only thing that distinguished it from the many others were the red cloaks wrapped around and between them. 

“. . . So I took their magic for my own. . .”

Mika felt her fear rise and clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. Aezera simply laughed. “I wandered for days, gathering what was necessary to complete my revenge.”

Mika forced down her creeping horror. “And how do I have anything to do with this?” she cast a hand out at the remains of Aezera’s victims. “You clearly have enough power to do whatever it is you want!”

The final light came on and Mika turned to face the throne, finally lit. on the throne, encased in a sickly blue orb, slumped to the side, was The Demon Lord. Aezera finally stepped into the light from behind the throne. “I will become his true wife and Zecaeru will be the heir he was always meant to be!”

Aezera lightly skims her fingers across the orb surface, clearly getting more and more excited as she talked. “Silly human, don’t you see? I am going to feed the magic of that fool Raestrao and his brothers to my Lord and he will use that magic to retake his throne and retake his lands.”

She steps off the platform and approaches Mika in slow even steps. Mika backs up hastily. “You have formed a bond with Aomaris, he needs you. They will have to search for you, for his sake.” A nasty grin splits Aezera’s face, a cold insanity lights her eyes. “I cannot enter the Palace, but they can come out.”

With that Mika breaks. She turns and runs, careening down hallways and back down the steps she was dragged down. As she passes the lake she is halted by the tugging in her abdomen. In an Instant, Aezera is there.

“Where do you think you’re going? When the moonlight leaves the lake, you turn back into a swan. No matter where you are.”  
Aezera laughs and releases Mika, who falls to her knees. It is only after she is certain that Aezera is gone, that she allows herself to cry.

 

XXX

 

(Some Months Later)

Sam and his brothers were out on the Palace Grounds. Sam was stretching, and so were his brothers, though the former was intently focused on what was clearly a routine event for him while his brothers’ performance was lack luster at best and littered with complaints. Across from them was a table laden with various weapons and a single blind fold.  
“I don’t like this!” Matthew called out as he picked his daggers up off the table and did some quick lunges with them. “I don’t like this one bit!”

Sam looked up from his toe-touch, hands flesh with the ground, his legs straight. “The Great Animal isn’t going to give Mika up without a fight.”

Erik came out of bridge position and gaped, “You’re not still thinking she’s alive? Aomaris it has been months and she’s human! Aomaris I’m sorry but I don’t think –”

“She. Is. Alive.” Sam cut him off stubbornly, “And I’m going to find her.” He straightened up and reached for the blindfold. He tied it over his eyes and stood still, allowing his other senses to adjust. “I can feel it, inside of me. I would know if she was dead.”

At that Damien spoke up. “He’s right, she is alive. I can’t explain it, but it is there. At the back of my mind. She’s still breathing.”

At that the boys fell silent, but Sam rounded on Damien, angrily turning towards the sound of his voice. “She’s safe?” It was more of a demand than a question.

“She’s alive,” Damien stressed. “I can’t – please don’t push it, I’m not – I don’t quite understand how I –”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Matthew soothed, laying a hand on Damien’s shoulder. “If you say she is alive Izroul, then she is alive, and Aomaris will find her. We will find her.”  
Erik joined Matthew at Damien’s shoulder, shooting Sam a Distinctly Unimpressed Look. And while Sam couldn’t see it, he could feel it. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged in their general direction.

 

Across the way, in The Gardens, James was holding a social. He smiled and greeted noble after noble, proceeding to do a fantastic job at pretending to be interested in their petty gossip and insignificant problems.

“And where might your brothers be, my Liege?” A bird demon, The Ambassador of Nipalensis if memory served, coos, a touch to close to James’ face for comfort. “I would have liked very much to see them.”

“They escaped,” is what James does not say. He also refrains from saying, “They heard you were coming and faked horribly violent deaths so that they could move to the woods to become hermits.”

Instead he smiles, “Sam has devoted his time to the defense of this kingdom, he hopes to find those guilty of the assassination of King Anderson of Bailiwick and bring them to justice within our courts. He plans to eradicate that threat to our safety.” As he spoke more demons joined them. 

They began to offer opinions he didn’t want and immediately tuned them out, allowing the occasional nod or inquisitive noise, so that they wouldn’t know he was pretending he was somewhere else. He came back to them all in an instant when the tail end of a side conversation caught his attention.

Towards the back of the group a succubus and a monkey demoness where talking. “. . . That human is dead,” The monkey demon said indifferently, “She’s not coming back. The whole kingdom knows this.” The succubus had the good sense to attempt to quiet her conversation partner but the demoness ignored her and continued. “Prince Sam really should give up and look into his other options.”

James’ eyes narrowed and the air around him quickly dropped in temperature. The demons around him made themselves scarce. James had not won the wars he had fought in by being kind. The monkey demon who had spoken was now preoccupied with the tables of food, oblivious to the situation she was in. James came up beside her, his demeanor a touch too casual to attempt to convey anything else besides predatory.

“If the whole Kingdom knows Mika is dead,” James said, causing the demoness to jump in surprise. “Then the whole kingdom is wrong. If Princess Mika is alive then my brother will find her.” The demoness turned to face her king head on and was frozen in place by the look in his eyes. His eyes where flinty chips of ice and rage. And the monkey demoness felt a chill rip up her spine. Oh, there was a smile upon his face, but it was a small thing and fooled absolutely no one. 

She began speaking immediately, her tongue tripping over itself in her haste to back track. “My, my apologies my Lord I did not –”

“Yes you did.” James cut her off, voice lacking inflection, cold and unyielding.

“My Lord I would – I do not – I would never presume t – to –!” Her words tumbled out, her voice going up an octave as her fear took over, leaving her breathless.

The temperature around them dropped even more, the flowers in the hedges began to wilt and the pitchers of drinks frosted over. James’ magic curled around him, golden and dark, casting shade on an otherwise beautiful day. His guns summoned themselves to his hands and he used the barrel of one to tilt the monkey demoness’ head up so that she had to look him in the eye.

“You have thirty seconds to remind me of your worth,” James said, sounding bored. “If you fail at this menial task I am going to shoot you and allow the rest of the guests to do whatever they would like with your corpse.” He pressed the gun firmly against the skin behind her chin and flicked the safety off. “Begin.”

She promptly burst into tears and James sighed and rolled his eyes because, when he shot her and finally shut her up the arterial spray was going to get everywhere and he’d have to change – his thoughts are cut off by Sam and Erik bursting through the hedges.

They were sparring, Erik’s purple tentacles writhing wildly in their haste to grab Sam and keep up with Erik’s whims. Sam leapt from table to table, still blindfolded, knocking them over and shattering the tableware; barely missing the quickly scattering crowd of demons. James saw Damien step out of the shadow cast by an overturned table and throw himself into the fight, only missing Sam because he wasn’t thinking out his movements. 

James cursed and leapt out of the way of a flying dagger, looks like Matthew’s arrived, he thought bitterly before cursing louder, because the monkey demoness was gone. “Well,” James sighed, now thoroughly annoyed, “At least she isn’t completely stupid.” James then turned so that he was completely facing the chaos that was his siblings, gathering his magic around him. “ENOUGH.” James’ magic crackled in the air around him as he walked towards his brothers. The four men were frozen in place by the magic behind James’ words. “What on earth are you four doing? I purposefully had this gathering in The Southern Gardens so that you all would have the entirety of the grounds to practice!”

James shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose, after a moment he waved his hand in their general direction, a tired mirth in his eyes. “Who was winning?”

The hand motion had given them back the capacity to speak, “At the moment Aomaris was regaining the upper hand.” Erik acknowledged.

James walked over to Sam and removed his blindfold, ignoring his squawk of protest. “That is correct. Can anyone tell me why Erik is correct? And it is not because Sam got more hits in.” After a long pause James spoke up again. “He was winning because the rest of you were being careless. Erik, look at your feet.” James walks over to Erik and raps two fingers against his shin. “The way you’ve placed yourself would have caused you to fall into that hedge if I hadn’t stopped all of you. Matthew, all of your previous daggers went wide. Sam is the one with the blindfold, not you, look where you’re aiming. Damien, stop over-extending your arms.” James walks over to Damien and taps his left arm. “When you throw your body around like that you are more susceptible to self-inflicted injury.”

James walks back to Sam and re-ties the blindfold across his eyes. “Trust your other senses Sam, they will not fail you.” He took a few steps back and sat down on one of the few upright chairs. “If any one of you hits me throughout this match then all of you will have to clean up the mess you have all made. As well as write apology letters to everyone that was in attendance this afternoon.” He crosses his legs and cancels the magic holding his brothers up. 

“Begin.” 

 

XXX

 

Andrew paced nervously along the bank of the lake. Well, it was not so much a pacing as it was a stilted hop-walk, as if he knew how to walk but his body did not. And it was fair to assume that his body did not know how to walk upright, because Andrew is a frog.

The frog paused and looked out across the portion of the lake he stood by, there, across the moat, flush against the side of the tower, was a group of flowers. Daisies to be precise. Mika’s favorite flower. Andrew remembered when Mika had told him this, smiling down at the dirt as he sat by her hand as if the memory associated with that fact was as fragile as the flower’s petals.

Andrew really did not want to get in the water near the castle. He figured that the castle itself was spelled in some kind of way and getting that close would get him fried by some sort of twisted demonic magic of doom. 

But then he remembered how sad Mika had looked recently, how her feet dragged and how the smile she used to cheer him up never actually reached her eyes. He shook his head and squared his shoulders, no, he had to get those flowers, he had to. He hopped back a few and got into position. One . . . Two . . . Go!

He took off down the dirt, hopping as fast as he could to gain momentum, he had just about reached the bank and was ready to jump off when Mika arrived. It was nearly dawn so she was in human form and her startled, “Andrew? What are you doing?” Caused him to trip and promptly belly flop into the water, landing with a stinging slap that rang out across the lake.

Mika was quick to fish Andrew out and lay him down in the grass. “Andrew, are you alright? What on earth were you planning to do?”

The frog winced at the stinging in his skin and tried his best to look nonchalant, but only managed to look sheepish. “I, uh, I wanted to get those flowers for you.” He motions at the Daisies across the way, “I figured they would cheer you up. . .” He looked down at the ground and shrugged, “I guess I kind of failed, didn’t I?”

Mika sighed, “Andrew, you cheer me up just by talking to me. I’d probably have gone crazy by now if not for you.”

Andrew huffed, “But that’s on accident, I’m only here because of you!” At that Mika withdrew a little and stared hard at the ground, guilt evident on her features. Andrew sighed and awkwardly patted the hand closest to him with a webbed appendage. “Hey now, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not your fault that that demon practiced animal spells on me before capturing you.”

Mika whipped her head back up, irritation clear on her face. “But it is my fault! She wanted to use it on me so she needed to get it right! That’s why you’re stuck here with me.” Mika tucked her hair behind her ear, “You wouldn’t be in this mess if not for me.”

Andrew shook his head. “Mika, she’s crazy, we don’t know what she’s thinking. If you hold yourself accountable for everything she’s guilty of you’ll be suffering for ages. Besides, if you hadn’t shown up I wouldn’t have had anyone else to talk to either. The other frogs here only talk about fly flight patterns, and the toads are bullies.”

At that Mika cracked a smile and Andrew mentally gave himself a pat on the back. He was about to ask her if she wanted to start to head towards the lake, because the sun would be rising soon and the moon was already leaving the lake. The last time she hadn’t been exactly on the lake a whirlwind of water had appeared out of nowhere, slamming into her and leaving her a wet and sore swan. 

But that’s when Mika froze, and stared at him intently. “Andrew.”

He looked to the side nervously before responding. “Yes. . .?”

“Do you remember anything about your time with The Fourth Wife?

Andrew closed his eyes and shivered. All of her spells and magic had changed his body in some way. He could distinctly remember the feeling of his bones cracking and joints cracking as he was molded into something else. Those weeks of being chained up in that dark room watching her work, unable to speak, unable to sleep? There is nothing you could give Andrew that would make him go back there. “I do,” He said hoarsely, “I remember.”

Mika nodded, “Did she have any books?”

Andrew looked at her quizzically, “What?”

Mika motioned impatiently. “Books, scrolls, did she know the spells she cast on you or did she read them out of some sort of grimoire? I woke up after the attack on my carriage and was a bird, but you were aware when she cast, so if she did you would have seen it! If we can find that book we could potentially find a counter-curse, or a way to break our spells!”

Andrew looked at her, gob-smacked. He felt such an overwhelming rush of awe and affection for his friend that it almost staggered him. This is why he was glad Mika was around, he’d probably have died by now without her. He closed his eyes and thought hard, sure his memory wasn’t the best and those memories were tinged with pain and covered in darkness but, if it could help them. . . Andrew opened his eyes, “I think so,” HE said after a moment. “I do not remember it all that well but I can remember her holding something similar to a tome, maybe a tablet? As she enchanted me.”

Mika grinned, “Andrew, if we can get into the castle, get that tome, maybe find a map –”

“Woah! Woah!" Andrew waved his front legs in a ‘no way’ motion. “Go inside the castle? While she’s there!? Absolutely not. No way. I cannot. I refuse.”

Mika pouted. “But Andrew, do you not want to be a person? DO you honestly prefer being a frog? If we get the book, we get answers.” Mika coaxed. “You can stop eating flies and who knows what else, I can stop fighting the urge to eat the water plants in the lake. Andrew, we could see our families again. For me, personally? Andrew, if I could break this spell I’d run to Sam right now, the way things took place before I was taken haunts me. We said some things we need to discuss and honestly, I miss his companionship. He was my friend Andrew, and I love him.”

Andrew decided that he was no longer glad that Mika was around. Because she came up with ideas that were ridiculous and made an annoying amount of sense and sounded so heartbroken and was most definitely going to get them killed! At best! Andrew groaned, “I don’t have much of a choice in this. Do I?”

Mika smiled and clapped her hands together, joy obvious on her face. “Alright, we can start planning in a minute, I need to get back to the lake.” With that she stood and took off, Andrew right behind her. 

He got there in time to see the water recede and leave a soaked and bruised swan behind. After taking a moment to get herself together and shake the water off her feathers, Mika swam over to where Andrew was at the water’s edge. In a quick movement he had jumped onto her back, and that’s how they spent the day. Circling the parts of the pond furthest from the castle, carefully laying out their plan.

 

XXX

 

A week later they found their opening. Andrew and Mika had been carefully monitoring the castle and as far as they knew, either Aezera never left or was never there at all. It was mid-morning so Mika was a swan, she left Andrew and carefully flew around the castle, trying to look into the windows without being obvious. After a while she flew back down.  
“There’s a room, in that upper chamber,” She said, a bit breathless as she waved a wing at one of the towers. “It’s got a work table with a map of Demesne and has a bunch of old and enormous books.”

Andrew shrugged and tried to seem confidant. “Seems a good enough place to start as any.”

Mika nodded. “If you climb on, I can fly you up there and you can see if you can get the window open. If the book we need is one of the ones I saw I don’t think either of us have the strength as we are now to grab it, so our best bet is to grab the map and try to read as many of the books as we can, as quickly as we can. Okay?”

Andrew nodded and soon he was airborne. He immediately regretted everything and promised himself that he’d never do this again. Ever. Soon enough they were at the window, Mika pressed herself flush with the sill, furiously flapping her other wing to remain in the air. Andrew took in a couple gulps of air before carefully sliding over. He noticed that the window had a latch on the outside and after a few minutes of struggling with his extreme lack of dexterity, he managed to pop it open, once he was safely inside Mika moved away from the edge, opting to perch on it instead.  
Andrew grabbed the map, it had Demesne at the top in large letter and someone had thoughtfully added an ‘X’ next to a lake in the bottom right hand corner. Smiling, Andrew rolled it up and gave it to Mika, who gently took it in her mouth and flew off to hide it somewhere dry and safe. Andrew turned to the nearest tome and, using two arms and all of his strength, managed to get it open. He hopped up on the page and began to skim, he had a lot of work to do. 

 

XXX

 

Sam was in the library again, pouring through book after book, leaving piles of discarded texts behind him. He slumped against a now empty bookcase, King Anderson’s final words reverberating through his mind.

 _“It’s not what it seems! It’s not what it seems!”_

Sam dropped his head in his hands and lets out a long groan, “What did he mean?” frustration is clear in his voice. He’d combed through the library so many times, read and reread everything there was on animals, magic, and everything in between. What was he missing? Annoyed he climbed up the nearby ladder to reach a higher shelf. He flipped through the first book he grabbed before chucking it towards a leaning pile. He slid the ladder down a couple feet before picking up animal dictionary, he quickly went through that as well before going to the book next to it, a slim text full of children’s tales. He flipped through that before freezing and snatching the dictionary back up. Looking at them both he read, hope sparking in his chest.

“It’s not what it seems! Of course! Oh, I’m such an idiot why didn’t I see this before!” Sam snapped the books up and jumped off the ladder, running for the library doors.

He flung the doors open and almost ran smack into James and Matthew. Matthew beamed in greeting, “They’re coming!”

Sam stopped short, “And you left them to tell us that?”

Matthew scowled and shoved him, “No I meant for my party tomorrow night! We got a whole bunch of Reservations!”

Sam blinked. And blinked again.

James sighed, “Did you really forget your brother’s birthday? Where were you even going?”

Sam sucked in a breath, “I think I’ve figured out The Great Animal.” Immediately the mood changed, and the brothers collectively grew more somber.

“What did you figure out?” Matthew asks, and Sam turns back to the Library, speeding over to the nearest table. He drops one of the books onto it and flips it open.

James peers down at it. “That is a mouse.”

“It’s The Great Animal.” Sam says with a knowing grin.

Matthew looked down at the picture before looking sideways at Sam in concern. “That’s a bit small, don’t you think?”

Sam shook his head, “Not when it turns into this.” He then set out the book of children’s tales, a page with a painting of a hyper-realistic dragon on it. “What if, what if it’s a Shapeshifter? Their magic allows them to appear average, completely normal, a harmless creature, until it’s too late.”

With that Matthew looked worried, but James looked contemplative. “Shapeshifters are extremely rare and powerful. . . It could be anything. . .” he mused, mind clearly racing.

Sam nodded, “Anything. Which is why I need to start looking now.”

Matthew nodded vigorously. “Of course you need to look! This might be the breakthrough you’ve been looking for!”

James nodded. “Just try to be here tomorrow night. Erik has been planning this for months now, and one hiccup means heads will definitely roll.”

Sam smirked. “Oh, I’ll be back in time. In fact, I’ll take the birthday boy with me. How could I risk coming to his party without him?”

Matthew nodded. “Yeah!” then he actually thought about Sam’s words. “Wait we’re doing what?”

 

XXX

 

Andrew and Mika carefully flew to the window again. They had managed to get through a large portion of the books but with just Andrew looking, it was slow going. Every couple of hours Mika had to take Andrew back to the lake so that he could re-hydrate, Mika had offered to help but Andrew reminded her that if she didn’t keep guard and they got caught, well, they’d probably wish they were dead.

Things continued in this manner for at least a week before Andrew struck gold. It was an old book, dusty and thick, it would have been too heavy for Andrew if he hadn’t been lifting tomes and tablets of a similar weight for the past several days. It fell open with a thud, billowing dust everywhere, covering Andrew. He ignored it and hopped up onto the pages, he’d been covered in dust constantly this week and at this point he was only mildly annoyed by it and the fact that it caused him to dry a little quicker. Upon scanning the pages, he realized he’d found a page focused on animal-based magic. Uses for Animal Bones and Blood, Uses for Animal Pelts, Animal Transformations. . . He stopped abruptly and focused harder, the script was tiny and spindly. As he read he promised himself that if they survived this he’d never make himself read anything other than block print again. That of make sure he’d be paid handsomely for this type of work.

He read as quickly as he could manage, flipping to mentioned pages for more detailed information. He had almost reached the end of the book when he found it. Semi-Permanent and Permanent Animal Transmutation. The book stated that curses where a being was turned into an animal that shifted back in relation to astronomical happenings, needed to have their curses broken by another being confessing everlasting love to them, simultaneously proving it to the world. 

Andrew drew back and let out a long sigh, “Darn it Mika, why can’t things ever be easy for you?” He read on, only to discover that his curse fell under Permanent Animal Transmutation and that he had to be kissed. He shut the book and put it back to the best of his abilities, making sure to move around the dust to hide his prints. Heart heavy, he signaled for Mika. He kept quiet until they landed by the lake.

“Well?” Mika asked eagerly as Andrew hopped into the water, “How’s it going? Will we need more time?”

Andrew submerged his head, removing the grime from the tower from his skin. He responded when he came back up. “No, we won’t, because I found it.”

It was only through a great exercise of will that Mika did not immediately crowed Andrew for answers, instead she forcefully folded her wings and sat down.

Andrew shook his head, “Mika, you need someone, I’m guessing this Sam of yours? To make a vow of everlasting love and prove it to the world.”

Mika’s mind reeled. How on earth was she going to get that? Hells, she couldn’t even get him to admit he liked her for her! She sighed, “Sam is a Prince of Demesne and the surrounding Abyssal Plains. His brother is King. Whether he is willing to give the vow and mean it or not, he must be told. The potential threat of The Fourth Wife’s is too big to just ignore.” After a moment of silence Mika looks at Andrew. “What about you? What do you need to be freed?”

Andrew’s head droops, “A kiss. . . I need someone to kiss me.” 

Mika flaps her wings in excitement, “Well we can fix that no problem! As soon as the moonlight touches the lake I’ll –”

“No Mika.” Andrew’s voice was quiet but firm. “Thank you, but no.”

Mika blinked. “But, but why not? I could kiss you and you could go! Be free! Get help!”

Andrew shook his head, “I don’t think it’s that easy, both of our curses need to be broken by some level of romantic intention. Sure, I could potentially be kissed by a family member, a friend, or a stranger, but I feel as if your curse is far more finicky then that. I don’t want to find out what happens if someone under a spell that can only be broken by everlasting love, smooches some random person.”

A dark mood settles over them both as Mika realizes that Andrew is probably right. He’d been reading archaic magical texts for weeks now, he’d have to have picked up something on spell creation and general curse breaking.

“So . . . Are we still going through with the plan?” Mika asks, voice steady, heart racing.

Andrew looks at her before agreeing. “Well, we can damn sure try.”


End file.
